Cebu City Council questions additional P74M funding for Palarong Pambansa seats

A glimpse at the facade of the Cebu City Hall. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa

CEBU CITY, Philippines – An additional P74 million, on top of the P400 million appropriation for the Palarong Pambansa 2024, has been placed before the Cebu City chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee for resolution.

The P74 million is intended to be spent on constructing benches or bleachers for the grandstand at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).

City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, the committee chairman, called the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) for an executive session on Wednesday, May 22, to question the request for additional funds, which is proposed to be charged to the Pagcor funds.

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Wenceslao stated that P200 million had already been appropriated last February. He recalled that during the budget hearing, the P200 million was allocated for lighting facilities, labor, and renovation of the grandstand.

“We already provided 200 million for the bleachers, labor, lighting facilities. Ngano kinahanglan paman ta og additional 74 million?” Wenceslao asked during the executive session.

Acting assistant city engineer Miralex Toribio responded that while the P200 million has been appropriated for the renovation of the grandstand, the benches or bleachers were not included.

To be continued

Meanwhile, the executive session did not conclude the discussion, as Acting Vice Mayor Donaldo Hontiveros suggested continuing the discussion in another venue.

In a separate interview, Wenceslao mentioned that the matter has since been clarified by the project engineers, but he acknowledged his initial confusion due to the previous allocation of funds for the Palarong Pambansa in Cebu.

“During the budget hearing, the more than the 200 million will be for lighting facilities, kay according sa executive department, en kaso og init kaayo, katong mga dula sa udto ibutang sa gabie so that’s why, it should be lighted. Mao nang namalit sila og LED nga hayad kaayo. Second, naa silay LED wall nga palitunon more or less nga 100 million kay dagko og daghan sad . I think there are six na,” he said.

He added, “The rest will be for the construction of the grandstand, and I thought, ako ng gi clarify, kay I thought apil na sa construction sa grandstand ang benches.”

Since the project engineers clarified that the benches are not included in the P200 million appropriations, Wenceslao advised them to let acting mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia review and approve the request to charge it to Pagcor funds so he could make the necessary resolutions accordingly.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.

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